Authorities have discovered the body of a hiker who vanished on Sunday while looking for water in California’s Gaviota State Park for his dehydrated girlfriend.
Tim Sgrignoli’s corpse was discovered Thursday morning after a four-day search and rescue operation off a trail close to Santa Barbara, according to a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Sgrignoli, a 29-year-old Ventura man, was hiking with his girlfriend on the weekend along the Gariota Hot Springs route in the Ynez mountains when the sweltering heat caused her to experience minor heat exhaustion.
On Sunday afternoon, police managed to rescue the hiker’s girlfriend; however, Sgrignoli never made it back.
His cause of death has not yet been determined, although no foul play is suspected, and it is believed that heat exhaustion, dehydration, and exposure were likely the causes of his passing.
At the same time, the western United States, particularly California, Nevada, and Arizona, are still being baked by an intense heat wave.
The warmest day ever recorded in the state capital of California, Sacramento, reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
According to members of the Santa Barbara Country Fire Department, they received a complaint about a couple in need of assistance on the Gaviota Hot Springs Trail at around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Sgrignoli stayed with his sick girlfriend until officials confirmed a rescue chopper had been sent, at which point he made the decision to hunt for water, according to spokeswoman Scott Safechuck.
‘This morning one of the mutual Search and Rescue teams from San Mateo County made the discovery of Mr. Sgrignoli, unfortunately deceased,’ Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Commander Erik Raney told News Channel 3-12 yesterday.
‘The heat, as far as complications to this search, was the number one issue. The first several days, as you know we had record breaking temperatures.’
By Wednesday morning, Sgrignoli’s family and friends had posted on social media their deep concern about his disappearance, and a sizable contingent of unpaid volunteers had flocked to the trails in an effort to desperately find the hiker.
Near the Hot Springs trail, about 20 feet off Highway 101 north of the Gaviota tunnel, search and rescue personnel discovered the body on Thursday morning around 9 a.m.
Sgrignoli’s demise follows that of a “talented” doctor who had just become a father for the first time and died after running out of water and becoming lost while climbing in Arizona with five other people in temperatures above 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dr. Evan Dishion, 32, was found dead on Monday afternoon while trekking close to Cave Creek, according to the authorities.
At around 40 miles north of Phoenix, on Spur Cross Trailhead Mountain, Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies received a report at 1:25 regarding hikers in distress. Six persons were rescued as a result.
The hikers had carried on after running out of water before becoming disoriented, according to the Scottsdale Fire Department.
Dishion was one of those that was saved from the trail, but he eventually passed away from heat exhaustion in the hospital.
